Workshops, Restshops & Classes
Upcoming Workshops + Classes:
What Performers Need to Know About Their Nervous System
A Zoom workshop for performers of all kinds!
Are you a performer? Do you like nerdy science facts about your body? Do you get exhausted sometimes by the non-stop hustle and grind of doing the thing you love and that makes the world a better place but also you sometimes feel trapped in a socio-cultural system designed to burn you out and de-value your craft? 😮💨
Join us, because this is for YOU!
Do any of these apply to you?
- You are a performer 🙂
- You want to deepen your craft and connection to your body.
- You’ve experienced burnout in your craft.
- You can generate strong emotion early in rehearsal but later have difficulty accessing it sustainably.
- You’d like to feel grounded and confident in auditions.
- Perfectionism is a frequent visitor to your mental house.
- You love to learn fun facts about our amazing bodies!
Your body is your instrument and there is one system in your body which impacts nearly every aspect of being a performer – your autonomic nervous system! Understanding how to work with your nervous system can deepen your versatility as a performer and is absolutely critical for sustaining a nourishing career in this buckwild world of ours.
This workshop aims to be a fun and dynamic blend of cool science facts, solo journaling / reflection work, and partnered prompts.
You’ll walk away with exercises and knowledge that will help you:
- Increase your capacity for authenticity + presence on stage.
- Navigate audition nerves and stage fright.
- Identify burnout + make space for your creative flame again.
- Be an advocate for yourself and others in a rehearsal space.
- Compassionately combat old scarcity narratives.
Saturday August 15 from 10-12p (Zoom)
Investment: $25
No one turned away for lack of funds. Contact Caitlin at ca***************@***il.com for payment options.
Everybody Can Act!
A playful class for seriously awesome people 😉
You’ve always been curious about acting. You’re looking to boost your confidence, practice self-expression in an encouraging environment, get out of your shell, revitalize your creativity, shake things up, recover from burnout, or wake up your inner kid – perhaps someone has said to you, “Have you ever tried acting?”
This seven-week course introduces you to foundational elements of acting, and highlights the ways these skills can transform your confidence, relationships, and daily life. Using games, exercises, and improvisation, you will develop skills integral to an actor’s craft, such as active listening, creating ease in your physicality, trusting your instincts, responsiveness to your scene partner, and communicating intention.
In the latter half of the class, you’ll apply these skills to a series of short, semi-scripted scenes that you will create based on themes or topics relevant to your own life. Together, we will explore how acting becomes a vehicle for practicing the personal and community transformations you would like to see in the real world.
This is a class ideal for:
- Beginners with little to no performance experience.
- Intermediate/advanced performers who want to learn to use performance practices for personal and/or community transformation.
What to expect:
- A warm, encouraging, playful atmosphere.
- Each class begins with a check-in and warm-up.
- Games / exercises highlighting particular performance skills
- Improvised or semi-scripted scene work.
- Closing reinforcements or takeaways.
Inspired by the work of Augusto Boal (Forum Theatre), Playback Theatre, Headphone Verbatim Theatre, community devising methods, and adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy.
Tuesday evenings
Sept. 08 – Oct. 20th | 6:30 – 8:30p
Resound NW 1532 SW Jefferson, Portland, OR
Investment: $280 ($40/week)
Payment plans available at no extra cost. Reach out and I’ll set it up for you! ca***************@***il.com
What Folx Say About Working With Caitlin:
“Caitlin does absolutely incredible at taking whatever level you are and matching it. She takes the time to create a personal bond with each person, and makes sure that exercises work for you. They helped me understand more about how I think and work with others and rekindled a new love for the theater process in me.” – Kit, actor
“Working with Caitlin always has been and always will be a profound joy. It feels like a homecoming, a warm cup of tea. Whereas many other facilitators or teachers preach being a safe space for those who learn from them, Caitlin leads by example, showing her students that it is not only safe but important to set boundaries, and to move at your own pace, in the way that feels most comfortable to you. – Amelia, actor
Meet Your Facilitator
Hello! I’m Caitlin (she/they) and I’m on a mission to help actors and their teachers integrate rest as a cornerstone of their creative practice.
Six years ago I was the poster child for the theater’s hustle and grind culture: Put your craft above everything else in your life. If there is anything else other than acting that you could do, do that instead. Every minute wasted is time someone else is using to get the job instead of you. This was the mindset I’d been taught was essential to becoming a successful theatre artist. And it was sort of working – I had my own theatre company and we were growing very rapidly. But I was also continuously burning out, and I couldn’t help but wonder: This can’t be it. What if I want to make theater AND live a full and rich life? What if I don’t want to sacrifice one for the other?
These questions led me to the Royal Central School for Speech and Drama in London where I researched actor burnout while completing my MFA in Actor Training and Coaching. While geeking out on the biochemistry of stress and intersectional feminist frameworks for burnout, I began to center rest in my own creative practice. I never looked back!
Currently, I teach Applied Theatre at Pacific University, choreograph intimacy for theaters across the Portland Metro area, and help artists become unstoppable creative changemakers.
Workshops for Arts Organizations
I’m available to teach workshops for actors, teachers, and creatives at your school or organization! I have taught workshops across Oregon, California, and abroad, including at Portland State University, The Actors Conservatory, Lewis & Clark College, the University of Portland, at several Portland high schools, and in London at Rose Bruford College and The Royal Central School for Speech and Drama.
Below are a few of the workshops I have taught – but don’t let that stop you from dreaming. Got something in mind based on my skillset? Send me an email and let’s talk about it.
Resilient! Building Your Creative Life
Have you been wondering how you’re going to build a creative life for yourself, post-graduation? Does it ever feel like choosing a creative path means sacrificing your wellbeing? Do you wonder if your dreams are too far-fetched, too outlandish to pursue?
In this workshop — or restshop, rather — we unpack what it means to build a sustainable, nourishing, joyful creative life. Through games, dialogue, guided journaling, and collective rest, we will explore what resilience might look like within your creative career, and how to cultivate it. You will learn how to speak the ‘love language’ of your nervous system, aiding in your efforts to navigate stress and burnout. And finally, you will practice crafting an artists’ vision statement for you and your work, which serves as a guide for building a creative life that aligns with your values and boundaries.
Befriending Burnout & Sustaining Love for Your Creative Work
How do we know when we’re stuck in burnout? Moreover, why does it seem like burnout goes hand-in-hand with being an artist? Is there anything we can do about it? An overview on creative burnout, the socio-cultural factors that contribute to it, and how we can build resiliency.
Why Rest Feels Scary: Or, what actors need to know about their nervous system
As artists, why do we sometimes feel scared, anxious, or guilty when we try to rest? Learn the love language of your nervous system as articulated by polyvagal theory, and gain tools to calm and regulate yourself as you encounter stress as an artist.
Normalizing Consent & Boundaries in the Acting Classroom
What if we could navigate consent & boundaries in the acting classroom with ease? An introduction to tools crafted by Theatrical Intimacy Education.
Acting Techniques to Fall Back on When You’re Just Not Feeling It
So you’re having trouble feeling what your character is feeling – but what if this actually FREES you to make bolder, more creative choices in your acting? A framed exploration of Anne Bogart’s Viewpoints & Composition Technique.
Introduction to Frantic Assembly Devising Techniques
What if physically devised theatre was accessible and straightforward to learn? An introduction to devising techniques created by Frantic Assembly, a UK-based theatre company.
How to THRIVE at College Auditions
What if you could navigate your college and university auditions with ease, presence, and even JOY? Learn how to regulate your nervous system and consistently tap into presence.
CONTACT
I work and live on the unceded lands of the Clackamas people, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla people, known by its colonial name of Portland, OR.
© 2022 Caitlin Lushington
Rest & Love in Creative Living
Let's chat! In this email "newsletter," I respond to your questions on finding sustainability and creative fulfillment in our wild and challenging industry. I'll also send along stories, musings, and other bits of inspiration. Submit your questions to caitlinlushington@gmail.com.